Wait until next year

September 7, 2011

Literature with R.A. Dickey, Scrabble with Teju Cole

I’ve never really been comfortable with the idea of meeting my heroes in person. A few years back I was sitting in a bar in Austin (long story, and not a particularly interesting one), and who should walk in but quite possibly my favourite singer-songwriter/alt-country guy, Ryan Adams. I decided against going up and speaking to him. First, he seemed like he was having a fun, relaxing evening and didn’t need me annoying him with how much I loved Heartbreaker or Cold Roses or whatever. Secondly, what if it wasn’t a pleasant experience for me? If that were to happen would it ruin all that great music I loved? Would it spoil the memories I had of his songs pulling me through my sadder moments and soundtracking some of the happier ones? I couldn’t risk it. Read the rest of this entry »

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September 6, 2011

A Lick of Paint

Following a brief blogging hiatus I thought I’d give this old place a fresh look. I may well change the banner image, or the fonts, or whatever else in due course, as the mood suits. So don’t be alarmed by any further changes, dear reader. But I haven’t just been mucking around with my WordPress Dashboard. I have also actually written some new blog posts, which makes a nice change from my usual empty promises about writing something. They will appear over the next few days I expect, and that initial flurry of activity will inevitably be followed by sporadic posting at best, and another unplanned hiatus at worst, depending on time commitments and your correspondent’s commitment, or lack thereof. Anyway, stay tuned and all that.

Image from the Library of Congress, via Flickr

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August 11, 2011

The War on Drugs – Slave Ambient

And now for something free, that is not only legal, but doesn’t involve smashing through a window to get to it. Yep, I’m going to again lean on Soundcloud for some more musical offerings. Read the rest of this entry »

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August 9, 2011

The London Riots

In 1987 Margaret Thatcher said, “There is no such thing as society”. Over the past few nights her declaration has finally come true. The rioting and looting in London and elsewhere has been on an unprecedented scale. Even if only for a few hours, society broke down. And there is a very real risk that it might happen again tonight, and the next night, and the next night. Read the rest of this entry »

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July 29, 2011

The Shakes

Last week I posted about my latest musical crush, Turf War, and they were kind enough to then link through to this old place from their Facebook page and get in touch with me directly, which was pretty awesome and unexpected. So, I figured I might as well plug another new band, not in the hope that they will get in touch too, but more to give me a warm ‘n’ fuzzy feeling for supporting new music, and indeed sharing it with you, dear reader. Read the rest of this entry »

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